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0:01- Olive's (Abigal Breslin) eyes. Devotchka's song "The Winner Is..." (which is my all time favorite movie soundtrack song ever). And the Miss America pageant. Great start.
0:02- Richard (Kinnear), presents his "Refuse To Lose!" program, quickly starting the Winning/Losing motif that will prominently be featured throughout the film. At the end of his speech, he says "I want all of you to go out and be winners!". It's then revealed that he is only presenting to a few people who aren't that interested in him. Certainly a contrast between Winning/Losing. Kinnear is a loser.
0:03- More character introductions: Dwayne (who looks like if Mitchell Musso knew how to act) doesn't talk. He works out in his room, keeps to himself. Edwin (Arkin) does a line of heroin in the bathroom. Brief introduction to Sheryl, who is driving while smoking. Then there's Frank (Steve Carell) sitting in the hospital. And with that the words "Little Miss Sunshine" appear on screen, while Sheryl walks into the hospital. Until I saw Place Beyond the Pines this year, there has never been a more captivating opening sequence in my opinion. Devotchka's "The Winner Is..." perfectly lays the foundation for the whole introduction, and we will certainly be hearing more of that song. Thankfully. Love it.
0:06- Sheryl takes Frank home and moves him in with Dwayne. Both don't seem too happy about it. I love Steve Carell in this movie. Everyone is fantastic in this movie, but Carell is just so perfect.
0:09- Hectic house, Richard comes home, Dwayne's setting the table, and then when he tells Frank that dinner is ready, it's revealed that Dwayne chooses not to talk. At all. One of the best characters that has ever been put to screen.
0:10- Frank asks Dwayne who he hangs out with, and he grabs a pen and paper and scribbles "I Hate Everyone" on a piece of paper. When asked "What about your family?", he grabs the pen and underlines "Everyone" harshly. Such great interactions between Frank and Dwayne. Some of the best parts of the movie involves them two. More to come on this later.
0:13- The awkward family dynamic begins, Arkin makes a loud appearance, and though there were obvious signs to it, it's finally revealed that Frank tried to kill himself and that is why he was in the hospital. Olive quickly starts her "most adorable child actor ever" campaign here. Carell is still fantastic.
0:14- Olive responds "That's silly!" when Frank says he was in love with another man and that Frank is gay. Just as adorable as always.
0:16- Change of topic to Olive being a pageant girl. Little Miss Chili Pepper and Little Miss Sunshine are brought up. Tension rises between Frank and Richard. Quick note on Greg Kinnear's performance: I think his performance goes completely under the radar for a few reasons. One is that his character isn't exactly likeable, and the other is the the entire cast is brilliant. I really think Kinnear is brilliant in this movie, and he almost gets no mentions.
0:18- I love every single thing about this scene. Olive's running around screaming Little Miss Sunshine. Richard and Sheryl are fighting about how to get to Little Miss Sunshine. I don't really know what Edwin is doing, but he's active as well. And all of this is going on while Frank and Dwayne have the same somber face on, still sitting at the dinner table. Such a grand scene.
0:20- It's been twenty minutes. The only scene has been at a dinner table. And it was captivating. What a great script from Michael Arndt. Quick note on Dwayne: the acting that this kid does for most of the movie is beyond tough to do. He can only show emotions with his face and eyes, and he can't say anything at all. Yet, you feel what he feels. Brilliant. Oh yeah, they're all going to the Little Miss Sunshine contest in a VW Bus.
0:22- This is some of the best dialogue ever.
0:24- Arkin is killing it. This is the reason why he won. Although, it's not like he's the only guy that could have done this. This was a character that was heavily created by the script, and not the performance.
0:28- Olive orders A La Mode and Richard gives her a hard time. A great scene again, as Dwayne, Frank, and Edwin all reach for the ice cream after Olive offers it up. Then Olive stops them and says not to eat it all, and she starts to eat some. Wonderful scene.
0:29- "The Winner Is..." makes its second appearance, with more xylophone in it.
0:32- They have to push the VW bus in order for it to get started and moving because the bus is old and shitty. They all push and then run into the car 1 at a time. After they all make it into the bus, Frank and Dwayne actually show some sign of happiness for the first time in the entire film. Particularly Frank.0:33- "The Winner Is..." makes its third appearance, more trumpets this time. I'm pretty sure that this is the only version that varies from the original that is it's own song on the soundtrack. God I love this score so fucking much.
0:36- They stop at a gas station so that Richard can make a phone call regarding his book. Just before this, he and Frank had a hilarious back-and-forth about how stupid his "9 steps to success" were. Frank goes inside to get a drink, as well as some "non-airbrush shit" porn for Edwin. The guy that Frank loves that caused him to attempt suicide happens to be in the gas station. He sees that Frank is buying porn, and it's super awkward and hilarious.
0:40- They forgot Olive at the gas station. People think this scene is really stupid. Which, in a broad perspective, yes it seems pointless. But the fact that everybody was so caught up in their own shit that they forgot Olive, the one person that they are even making this trip for, thematically means that they're all so worried about their own lives and don't give a shit about anyone else's. Particularly Olive's.
0:42- "The Winner Is..." 4th appearance. Though this time, it's much more accordion.
0:44- Richard and Sheryl are fighting in the hotel room next door to Dwayne/Frank. Dwayne can hear the fight through the wall. The camera zooms in on Dwayne's face and he begins to smile. I think that Dwayne is exactly who Duncan from The Way, Way Back should have been. I liked Duncan just fine, but had he had more Dwayne inside him, I think he could have been the best part of TWWB. (My full The Way, Way Back review)0:45- Hands down the best scene in the movie and without a doubt the "And the nominees are..." scene for Abigal Breslin. I know it's impressive when actors cry and stuff, but sometimes you can tell that they aren't genuinely sad, they're just playing a character who's crying. Maybe throw some eye drops in there and call it a day. But Breslin, man. She killed it in this scene. I don't know how she did that. She legitimately was crying in this scene. You could tell she was so afraid of being a loser and letting down her dad. So great. Arkin was fine in it, but this was Breslin's scene. Anytime you out-act Alan Arkin in a scene is impressive, and she did it at age 6.
0:49- Richard goes all the way to Scottsdale to meet up with Stan, who was supposed to get his book situation figured out. Stan is played by Bryan Cranston. Cranston has like 3 minutes of screen time, which is never enough Cranston.
0:52- Olive wakes up the family and says that Grandpa won't wake up. Sheryl starts to cry, says that "we're a family" and that she loves them all. Dwayne gets out his pad, and writes "Go Hug Mom" and shows it to Olive. One of my favorite scenes. A doctor then informs the family that Edwin indeed passed away.
0:58- The family goes to see Edwin, and they come up with a plan to sneak his body out of the hospital, so that they can get to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in time. Very underrated performance from both Collette and Kinnear in the entire hospital scene. More motifs of "Winners vs. Losers".
1:01- The motif of "Heaven and Hell" comes up again, when Olive asks what's going to happen to grandpa. The car horn then gets stuck and it is continuously honking. A police man pulls them over, and they're freaking out because, well they have a dead body in the back. Kind of worthy of freaking out about.
1:04- The cop opens the trunk, and Edwin's porn falls out of the trunk. This scene is so awkwardly funny. It's even funnier when you think about how the rest of the family is sitting in the car thinking that they're talking about the dead body. One of the best lines in the entire movie: "Everybody...just...pretend to be normal!".
1:06- Olive is being a typical little kid when asking Dwayne to do eye-tests, when they figure out that he's color blind, which means, he can't fly a plane. There are so many different things that this means metaphorically, it might have to become its own blog. Well here goes a few:
Dwayne is color blind, which is ironic. The entire film he seems like he's the kind of guy who sees the beauty in life that no one else can see. It's troubling that he can't see color. Although, in its own weird way, it's like saying that he sees the world and everything a different way than everybody else.
The fact that he can't fly a plane is weird when given the Winners/Losers theory that his dad holds. His dad believes that if you give up on anything in life, that makes you a loser. Well, it's not that Dwayne is giving up on it, it's just that he just can't physically do it. Which puts him in a weird middle-ground between "winning" and "losing". He's just kind of there. Later in the film, he says he will find a way to fly, so technically he's not giving up.
Back to the plot real quick, his first word in months is "Fuck!". It's weird, the first time I saw this movie I thought he was going to throw up everywhere. Your heart just breaks for this kid. This is one of those movies that you just get so involved with all of the characters and you just feel for each and every one of them.
1:09-Dwayne and Sheryl are out in the field, which is metaphoric as well, since there isn't really any color to be seen. It's just plain and boring. Dwayne calls them all "losers", and that he just wants to be alone and not continue the ride.
1:11- Olive goes down to talk to Dwayne, and she just puts her arm around him. This girl is metaphorically and figuratively "Little Miss Sunshine" in the sense that she makes everybody around her happy and brighter. If you haven't figured that out by now.
1:13- They make it to the hotel barely in time for the pageant. Lots of metaphorical dialogue "I'm not turning around it's a One Way Street! I'm not turning back." Devotchka's score is my favorite part right here. What is this the 6th appearance of "The Winner Is..."? I think it is. It's much more upbeat and fast paced, to support the hectic nature of this scene.
1:15- The satire on pageants and pageant families begins. These are some of my favorite parts. Also, do you notice how I keep saying "these are my favorite parts"? Where is Alan Arkin? Oh that's right, he hasn't had any screen time since the 45 minute mark with Olive in the hotel, remember? When Breslin out-acted him? Look I know it seems like I hate his performance. I don't. He's brilliant. I just think it's one of the most overrated supporting acting performances of all time. It's all dialogue, and some of the most emotional, crucial moments of the film happen when he's not even on screen. Also, he's the 4th best supporting character in this entire film (shots fired). Kinnear's performance is vastly underrated because his character is so unlikeable, Carell is brilliant, and Dwayne didn't say a word until about 5 minutes ago, and yet, when it was revealed he couldn't fly a plane, your heart tugged. You felt emotionally attached to a character who couldn't even say anything for more than half of the film. That's how brilliant Dwayne is in Little Miss Sunshine. Look, nothing to take away from Arkin, he's a legend. He's had a hell of a career. But the fact he was nominated over all of these guys from Sunshine, and then BEAT Djimon Hounsou for Blood Diamond (a future Running Diary film, for sure) was just mind blowing to me. Alright, I'm done. I know that there are plenty of people who support Arkin and what he did in this movie, so I'm sure I'm going to get blasted for it if this article gets as many viewers as my Top-10 Cameos list did. Moving on.
1:16- Another great scene where Olive talks to Miss California and she reveals that she eats ice cream. I love it. Also, Dwayne is starting to notice how weird everybody is in the pageant environment.
1:20- The pageant starts, and right off the bat you can tell Olive just doesn't fit in with the rest of the group. You start getting some heart from Richard, as he shows a smile and claps. He looks very proud of her.
1:22- More satire about the pageant environment. I don't remember where I read this, but it was around the time Little Miss Sunshine came out and it was talking about how pageant families were really upset with how they were portrayed in this film. The thing is: I've actually been to a couple of pageants. It really is this weird. And like a lot of people, particularly males, I remember feeling the same thing Dwayne feels when he says "Let's get out of here" to Frank. Also, they make this singer guy super creepy when he's singing "America the Beautiful" to all the contestants. Seriously, what is that? Obviously that's how they wanted it, but it was just overboard creepiness. Olive's face when reacting to him singing right in her face is just priceless.
1:24- An awesome, just flat out awesome scene between Dwayne and Frank. Great dialogue discussing suffering. And some fantastic lines too: "Fuck beauty contests, life's just one big beauty contest" and "Do what you love and fuck the rest".
1:27- Richard realizes they don't want Olive to go on to do her talent and that she will embarrass herself. The funny thing is, this is the first time that Richard turns his back on the "losers quit" and "never stop trying" thing. It makes sense, though. Dwayne comes in and agrees with Richard, setting up one of the best scenes in film history.
1:30- Olive goes on. And she dances very controversially. And very unladylike, to put it nicely. This is such a great scene. It essentially is throwing middle fingers at the entire system of a beauty pageant and the entire lifestyle of getting kids involved way too early. I love everything about this, wait it gets better.
1:33- The thing with this entire scene, is that it's supposed to be laugh-out-loud hilarious. Which it definitely is, I love everything about it. It's just that it's so heartfelt at the same time. I don't know if I'm the only person that feels this way about the ending, I just think it's so beautiful how the family comes together. It brings a tear to my eye, more than makes me laugh. You know that scene in Silver Linings Playbook (most DEFINITELY a future Running Diary, by the way) at the end where Jennifer Lawrence runs up to Bradley Cooper for the big move, and then they don't get it, and her crotch is right in his face and he's carrying her around and everyone in the audience is laughing? That's what this reminds me of. But then, there is a scene right in the middle of all that, where it cuts to Jacki Weaver (Cooper's Mom in the film) for a brief second, and she's not laughing, she's crying and smiling. And it's tears of happiness. You can tell she's so proud of her son. That's what this is like. It reminds me so much of that. I'm the mom from Silver Linings Playbook (PS: don't be mad I just ruined one of the funniest parts of Silver Linings Playbook, you should have seen that masterpiece by now, it's your fault if you get mad about that).
1:34- Back to the scene, the director wants Richard to get her daughter off stage, but he sees how happy she is, and instead joins in and dances with her. On stage. In front of everybody. Then Frank, and then Dwayne, and finally Sheryl. It's such a beautiful scene; they all are happy, and they all are kicking ass. Yeah, all of the losers and weirdos are on stage together, but they're happy. And that's what matters. 1:36- One more "The Winner Is..." because fuck it, why not?
END CREDITS: I love this movie so god damn much. It pains me that this movie came out the same year that The Departed came out, otherwise it could've easily won Best Picture. The year before, Crash fucking won Best Picture. That's how down of a year 2006 was. 2008 would have been tougher, but I still think had it came out in 2008, it would've had a chance beat No Country for Old Men. But that's just me. There's a comparison going around that I will get to when I do my full The Way, Way Back review that it's is the next Little Miss Sunshine. It's not. It's certainly not after doing this running diary. It just isn't it. This kind of movie only comes along once every 10, 20 years. I truly believe that. I definitely touched on Devotchka's score plenty of times. It's my favorite movie soundtrack of all-time. I did a detailed breakdown of why Alan Arkin was overrated in this film, but I didn't get as many opportunites to say that Abigal Breslin is absolutely adorable as Olive. Breslin is so adorable in every movie she's been in. It's such a shame that she's in her late teens now, and never will ever be able to be this adorable again. I just wish there was some way we could keep her in her prime. You know, the Little Miss Sunshine and Definitely, Maybe prime. There are so many deeper elements in this film that I didn't touch on and didn't go deep enough on. Certainly a ton of themes and motifs I didn't mention. I only half gave a breakdown of what Dwayne's color-blindness means thematically. But you can notice so many different metaphors and themes in this movie, and you don't really even have to be looking for them all that much. That's some of the beauty that came along with Little Miss Sunshine. Beautiful and near flawless picture.
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